Kiyohito Yagi

Cytostatic effect of phenobarbital on a human hepatoma cell line

Human hepatoma cells are considered promising for application in a bioartificial liver (BAL) support system. Since uncontrolled growth in the limited space of the bioreactor will result in cell death, regulation of growth and maintenance of liver functions are necessary for the construction of BAL systems using hepatoma cells. Substances suppressing growth and maintaining the liver functions of hepatoma cell lines were screened, and phenobarbital (PB) was found to significantly inhibit cell proliferation and DNA synthesis by the human hepatoma cell line C3A in a dose-dependent manner. Cell viability was little affected by PB treatment. Expression of the housekeeping glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and liverspecific albumin genes was not affected by PB. These results indicate that the inhibitory effect of PB on growth and protein synthesis is not related to apoptosis or necrosis. The growth-suppressing effect was maintained at least three days after the removal of PB. This kind of cytostatic substance could be used for regulation of the growth of hepatoma cell lines in the BAL system.